Raymond Kane

Raymond Kane, who has died aged 82, was one of the masters of Hawaiian slack-key guitar, one of the world's foremost acoustic guitar traditions. Ki ho'alu, called "slack-key" in English, is a style of playing unique to Hawaii. Its greatest impact came through master musicians such as Edwin "Sonny" Chillingworth, Leland "Atta" Isaacs and, especially, Charles "Gabby" Pahinui, who brought it to the attention of such American artists as Chet Atkins, Ry Cooder and Henry Kaiser. Kane was part of the next wave of players.

Ki ho'alu was the product of native ears adapting to foreign sonorities, and fingers adapting to different fretboards. The usual story is that it emerged in the 1830s after local musicians came into contact with vaqueros - Spanish-speaking Mexican cowboys brought in to ranch and control the cattle that had run wild under royal protection - who had brought guitars with them. (The Hawaiian word paniolo for "cowboy", heard in many Hawaiian cowboy songs, is the islanders' corruption of español.) The guitar offered new possibilities and greater prospects than, say, the ukulele.

The locals set about unlocking voices hidden in the instrument. They slacked - slackened or tuned down - a standard guitar's strings to create open chords and alternative tunings. Slack-key improvises around the melodic line using finger-picking and the thumb playing bass lines or runs. Like other slack-key guitarists, Kane played both standard slack-key and secret slack-key tunings. The latter are frequently guarded jealously. To fox tuning thieves, the back might be turned as a precaution, for example, while tuning.

Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleohele-manu ("Voice of love will never be forgotten where it comes from, and like a bird, it flies") Kane was born in Koloa, Kauai. He was raised in Nanakuli in the Waianae district on Oahu, now part of the city and county of Honolulu. His stepfather was a fisherman, and Kane spent a lot of time on the beach. According to one story, as a small boy he was attracted to the music of a man called Albert Kawelo. Initially, he drove the youngster away, but he persisted and eventually began bartering fish for lessons.

Although he was related to several musicians, nobody in his family played guitar. Consequently, he played by ear, never cracking staff notation, not that staff notation could ever have captured the hues and nuances, fires and sunsets in his playing. He was acutely conscious of how precious and fragile ki ho'alu was and made it a point of honour to teach and propagate the art.

Well into middle age though, playing guitar was a sideline for Kane. (Similarly, even Pahinui, who recorded so notably with Ry Cooder, held down a labouring job for much of his working life.)

Although Kane recorded from the late 1950s, few examples of his work are available. The easiest ones to find are Master of the Slack Key Guitar (1988), Punahele (1994) and Wa'ahila (1998). He also recorded with his wife of more than 40 years, the singer Elodia Kane, on releases such as Wa'ahila, He Leo 'Ohana (2000) and Kaiser's Hope You Like Our New Direction (1991). Kane also featured prominently in the film That's Slack Key Guitar (1995), reissued on DVD in 2006. He was officially a national living treasure, the US National Endowment for the Arts having bestowed that honour on him in 1987. Summing up ki ho'alu once, he said: "It's sweet, it's good for the soul."

Kane is survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.

· Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleohele-manu Kane, guitarist and composer, born October 2 1925; died February 27 2008